Jim McMahon, the Superbowl XX winning quarterback from the 1985 Chicago Bears, a team which is often considered one of the best all-time teams and arguably the best defense in the history of the NFL, has joined the long list of people advocating for the medical use of marijuana.

Currently, McMahon is battling symptoms attributed to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), such as early dementia, severe headaches, memory loss and depression, all of which have been attributed to the effects of multiple concussions and for obvious reasons are especially prevalent among people involved in contact sports.

Even in states in which medical marijuana has already been legalized, the National Football League prohibits its use among players. Anyone testing positive for marijuana use, regardless of local laws (even in Washington and Colorado, which both allow recreational use), are subject to punishments that increase with each instance.

McMahon made his statements advocating for marijuana as an alternative to opiates for pain management while appearing as part of a panel discussion by retired NFL players at the Cannabis World Congress and Business Expo. The panel was held at Manhattan’s Javits Convention Center.

The panel, according to the New York Daily News, was moderated by former Giants defensive lineman Leonard Marshall and included former Bears quarterback Jim McMahon, former Broncos tight end Nate Jackson, former Broncos wide receiver Charlie Adams and former Jaguars offensive tackle Eben Britton.

McMahon, who is dealing with early dementia, severe headaches, memory loss and depression — all symptoms associated with too many concussions — believes he would be healthier now if he was allowed to use marijuana instead of pills during his playing career. Marijuana is an effective pain killer and less harmful than opiods, McMahon said.

“Hundreds of thousands of people are dying from [painkillers] and there’s not one case of people dying from the hemp plant,” McMahon said.

Britton added, “Juxtaposing my experiences with pharmaceutical drugs like Vicodin and Percocet, that made me angry and irritable, frustrated, didn’t get rid of any of the pain, made it difficult to sleep, increased my heart rate and made me feel crazy. On the other side of that there’s cannabis that helped me sleep, put me into a healing state of being where I was relieved from stress and anxiety as well as feeling the pain relief.”

Jackson, who appeared on an edition of HBO’s Real Sports that dealt with the same issue, added, “The owners of these teams are, by and large, wealthy men who are older and do not understand that this is a pretty innocuous substance.”

He later explained that he was just showing the media where he had received treatment for an injury he had received in a game the previous week. (The headband derived from an incident earlier in the season where he was fined $5,000 for having an Adidas label on his head band during a game and subsequently wore a headband with “ROZELLE” written on it in reference to the league commissioner, who had fined him.)

So, it’s clearly not a case of the NFL being opposed to drug use in general or a concern for the safety or health of players. Their refusal to accept that playing in the NFL and improper care for concussions in the past increased the chances of players developing CTE alone is proof of that not being true.

The least they could do is give those players the option of using a safe and non-addictive option to treat the pain is inherent to the game. Being that there are different laws in the different cities which have NFL teams, there’s a small complication in the fact that some players would have access to legal medical marijuana while others wouldn’t because they state they live in still living in the dark ages.

However, in reality, all they would have to do is remove it from the list of drugs which they test for. Legally, they are not under any obligation to test for drugs, whether they are illegal or otherwise. Players certainly make enough money that they could set up residence during the offseason within the states that do allow its use for the next four or five years or so until it’s made legal not just for medical use, but for recreational use as well, nationwide. (That writings on the wall in big letters.)

The Sherman Herald Democrat published an article in the Sherman newspaper on January 23, 2016 about an SHS teen fight that took place on January 14, 2016. This report was in response to a press conference held by an activist group called Justice Seekers in support of Shatayvian Nelson and her family. However, some of the information that the school and the Sherman Police Department gave the news reporter appears to be false.

At this time, the family would like to clarify some of the misinformation the Sherman Police Department is feeding the public. First, we would like to address the headlines. In the press conference video what you do hear Rev. Wright say is that “the family is asking that not only this officer is disciplined, but fired and that the school is also held accountable.” Fifty-eight seconds into the audio.

Next, paragraph five of the article states, “the video shows Nelson appearing to hit her head on the tile floor.” Everyone that saw the video knows that was not an “appearance.” It clearly shows her falling back hitting the floor with such force it made a sound. Now, the crazy part about this statement is the fact that if the police department gets a video of someone stealing, they quickly claim the person is guilty, but when they get a video of one of “their” officers in the midst of a crime, they claim it’s an appearance. Hmmmmm, what’s wrong with this picture?

In paragraph six and seven, Sherman Independent School District officials said they would not comment on the specifics of the incident, but goes on to say “they place the highest priority on the safety of students and staff.” Evidence reveals that this statement simply can’t be true. A video has surfaced that shows the bully in the school cafeteria badgering another young lady while Tayvi sat quietly behind her. The bully became so agitated because the young lady would not show any signs of wanting to fight her, that the bully aggressively threw her back pack on the floor and other kids in the background yelling. When watching the video you see no staff of any kind attempting to intervene.

What this video shows is the students were either unsupervised for quite a few minutes or that staff were ignoring the teenagers’ actions. If this is what the school is calling a high priority on the safety of students by failing to supervise, it leaves all kids at risk of being bullied, stalked, or even threatened by anyone. So, parents should be concerned about their kids safety at the school.

Please turn your attention to paragraph 11 that states “SPD is still investigating the incident and Assistant Chief Stephen Dean said it is taking an objective view at Garbacik’s use of force, which he said they do in “every” use of force incident.” First, it’s puzzling that they still have to investigate after the video dominated the internet showing the officer assaulting the 15 year old young lady. What is there to investigate? Makes you think there are some laws for some people and not others.

Another issue that concerns the family is the statement the SPD makes is “Wright or any member of the family has not contacted SPD in any way.” On January 14, 2016, a witness, whose name will not be revealed for fear of being retaliated against, said that, after speaking with the doctor about the 15 year old’s condition, they physically went down to the Sherman Police Department to report the incident. The officer who they spoke with was Sgt. Tony. All details were given to him, including the 15 year old’s diagnosis that she suffered a severe concussion. To claim no one has informed them of her condition is an outright lie. Then to allow the child abuser to continue his daily duties is a danger to the society including kids!

Furthermore, the police claim their job is to separate facts from fiction, but the SPD totally ignored the fact that they were told by a family member and a witness about the incident after she had been evaluated by the doctor the same day it happened. It seems the police are relying on third party hearsay to make their conclusions and not facts, like they are claiming. Talk about feeding the public misinformation.

Now, if both parties are investigating, meaning the school and SPD, then they once again should have had the video that showed the officer’s misconduct. The school has also been given a copy of the medical records. It’s like they are totally ignoring all facts of evidence that both the school and the SPD have been provided on multiple occasions and then misinforming the public about the facts to get the public to agree that it’s OK to use excessive force on anyone, including kids.

The public should be aware that other parents have come forward and have said that they have had the officer slam their kids around to. It seems SPD is beginning to show a pattern of using brute force against anyone. How is this type of misconduct acceptable? If the SPD is training officers to injure the public, then maybe their training tactics should be changed to something safer and less drastic than intentionally harming folks. All the family can say to the public is “don’t believe everything you hear from the police or the schools.” If you have any questions just email us and we have no problem answering questions.

A couple months ago, Dylan Donnelly reported on an incident in which a Colorado Springs police officer was accused in a lawsuit of using excessive force for smashing an (at the time) 18 year old girl’s face into the concrete floor while her hands were handcuffed behind her back.

The 2013 incident, at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, was captured on video and clearly showed Officer Tyler Walker slamming Alexis Acker to the ground face first while she is unable to defend herself or break her fall, due to her hands being restrained behind her.

…she suffered a concussion and two broken teeth; also injuries to her face, head, and jaw that have had long-term health consequences including migraine headaches, closed head injuries, memory and cognitive function problems, and post traumatic stress disorder.

In light of that and with the video available, it shouldn’t be difficult to figure out that excessive force was used by Officer Walker against Acker. And apparently, it wasn’t because it was announced today that an investigation by the Colorado Springs Police Department concluded excessive force was, in fact, used and that Walker was disciplined, although how exactly is not disclosed.

They did, however, state that he wasn’t fired as a result of causing major facial injuries to a small, young woman, who was unable to defend or protect herself at the time.

“The following statement is being released at the request of Chief Carey. The internal investigation regarding Officer Tyler Walker has been completed. The allegation of Treatment of Offenders-Force 1650.56 has been sustained and discipline was imposed. Due to pending civil litigation Colorado Springs Police Department is unable to provide further comment or details. Officer Walker is still employed by the Colorado Springs Police Department.”

Police are not saying what disciplinary action Walker faced.

So, Officer Tyler Walker will still be out there walking (or driving) the streets of Colorado Springs, CO looking for an opportunity to slam someone’s face into the concrete. I don’t doubt that his wrist is pretty sore from the slap they surely gave him on it, though.